Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
483 / Paleozoic
Boltonocosta
Boltonocosta elongata
A long piercing mouthpart and four patterned wings belonged to the vanished palaeodictyopterans.
View original image · 1600 × 1067- Time range
- About 311–305 million years ago
- Final stage
- Late Carboniferous
- Geographic range
- Tropical coal forest · Britain
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Boltonocosta?
Boltonocosta (Boltonocosta elongata) was an extinct organism known from About 311–305 million years ago, with a range in Tropical coal forest · Britain.
Life and ecology
It probably flew among tree crowns and fern-like plants and pierced plant tissues for fluids.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Boltonocosta disappear?
Late Paleozoic plant and insect turnover is possible context, but it does not establish why its order disappeared.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Boltonocosta?
Compression fossils preserve venation and mouthpart outlines; color and host plants remain reconstructed.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS